Medigap
A Supplement buys you predictability
Original Medicare pays its share and a Medigap policy pays most of the rest, at any provider in the country who takes Medicare. You trade a monthly premium for the absence of surprises.
- No networks
- Guaranteed renewable
- Underwriting explained
The gaps
What a Supplement is filling in
Medigap does not add benefits. It pays the parts of Part A and Part B that would otherwise be yours.
The Part A deductible
$1,736 per benefit period, and a benefit period can start more than once a year. Most letters pay it in full.
The 20% coinsurance
The uncapped share of every Part B service. This is the gap that makes people buy a Supplement in the first place.
Hospital days past 60
$434 a day a day from day 61, then lifetime reserve days. Medigap covers these and adds 365 extra hospital days beyond Medicare's limit.
Skilled nursing coinsurance
$217 a day a day for days 21 to 100, after a qualifying inpatient stay. Plans G and N both cover it; Plan A does not.
Plan letters
Standardised, so only the price and the company differ
Every insurer selling Plan G sells the same Plan G. The benefits are set in law, which makes this one of the few insurance products you can genuinely shop on price and service.
| Letter | What it covers | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Plan G | Everything except the Part B deductible | The common choice for anyone newly eligible. Pays the Part A deductible, the 20% coinsurance, excess charges and foreign travel emergency. |
| Plan N | Plan G, minus excess charges, plus small copays | Lower premium. Up to $20 at an office visit, up to $50 at an emergency room that does not admit you. |
| High-deductible G | Plan G after you meet a yearly deductible | Low premium, real exposure. Suits a healthy budget-driven buyer who can absorb the deductible. |
| Plan A | The core benefits only | Every insurer that sells Medigap must offer it. Rarely the best value. |
| Plan B | Core benefits plus the Part A deductible | Sits between A and G. |
| Plans C and F | Not available to new enrollees | Only sold to people eligible for Medicare before 1 January 2020, because they cover the Part B deductible. |
Pricing
Three ways a premium is set
Two policies with identical benefits can age very differently. Ask which method a quote uses before you compare it with anything.
Attained age
The premium rises as you get older, and again with general rate increases. Cheapest at 65, and the most common structure sold in Georgia.
Issue age
Priced on the age you were when the policy was issued. It still rises with general increases, but not because you had a birthday.
Community rated
Everyone in the state pays the same regardless of age. Less common, and it looks expensive at 65 and reasonable at 80.
What never changes it
Your own claims. A Medigap insurer cannot single you out for a rate increase because you got sick, and cannot cancel a policy you keep paying for.
Plan costs vary by county, by carrier and by the drugs on your list. We price your own list against the plans available where you live before recommending anything.
Underwriting
The window that only opens once
This is the most consequential paragraph on the page, and the one most often discovered too late.
Your one free pass
Six months from the day your Part B starts, at 65 or later. Inside it, no health questions, no declines, no rate-ups. This window opens once and does not return.
Guaranteed issue rights
A shorter list of situations gives you the same protection later: a plan leaving your county, losing employer cover, an insurer breaking its rules, or the twelve-month trial right after a first Advantage plan.
Everything else is underwritten
Outside those windows, an insurer may ask about your health and decline you. This is why moving from Advantage to Medigap years later is harder than moving the other way.
- Your Medigap open enrolment starts the month your Part B begins — not the month you turn 65, if those differ.
- You can change Medigap insurers later at any time, but outside a protected window you may be asked health questions.
Medigap
Questions about Supplements
Plan G covers everything a Supplement is allowed to cover except the Part B deductible — $257 a year for 2026, a sample figure. Plan N costs less each month but leaves you small copays at office visits and at an emergency room that does not admit you, and does not cover Part B excess charges. If the annual premium difference is bigger than the copays you would realistically pay, N wins. We do that sum with your own doctor visits.
A provider who does not accept Medicare assignment may bill up to 15% above the Medicare-approved amount. Plan G covers it, Plan N does not. Some states forbid excess charges entirely; Georgia and South Carolina do not, so it is a live consideration here, although most providers in the area accept assignment.
No. Medigap sold today cannot include drug cover, so you buy a stand-alone Part D plan alongside it. Two cards, two premiums, and the freedom to change the Part D plan every autumn without touching the Supplement.
Not for using it. Medigap policies are guaranteed renewable: as long as you pay the premium, the insurer must keep the policy in force, whatever your claims look like. Premiums still rise for everyone in the rate class.
Plans C and F cover the Part B deductible, and the law closed them to anyone newly eligible for Medicare on or after 1 January 2020. If you were eligible before that date you may still buy one; if not, Plan G is the closest equivalent.
Same benefits, different prices. We read the whole panel.
Because the letters are standardised, the job is finding the insurer with the best rate and the steadiest history of increases in your county. That is a spreadsheet, and we keep it.
- Standardised benefits
- Panel compared
- No cost to you
Get a free plan review
A licensed, local advisor — usually the same day.
(912) 555-0148Mon – Thu 8:30 am – 6:00 pm